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Microsoft Waves Goodbye to Old Windows Logo

“Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?” asked Pentagram’s Paula Scher, the designer behind the new logo for Microsoft’s Windows 8.

The result of that conversation: the new logo for Windows, above right, which is an actual window, slightly angled, and blue. This style is supposed to reflect movement, and the fast pace of the new operating system. If you look back at their old logos, it was always meant to be a window, although throughout the years it mysteriously evolved into a flag, until now.

In some ways you can trace the evolution of the Windows logo in parallel with the advancements of the technology used to create logos. From the simple two color version in Windows 1.0 to the intricate and detailed renderings in Windows Vista and Windows 7, each change makes sense in the context in which it was created. As computing capabilities increased, so did the use of that horse power to render more colors, better fonts, and more detailed and life-like 3D visual effects like depth, shadows, and materiality. We have evolved from a world of rudimentary low resolution graphics to today’s rich high-resolution systems. And what started as a simple “window” to compliment the product name became a flying or waving flag.

But if you look back to the origins of the logo you see that it really was meant to be a window. “Windows” really is a beautiful metaphor for computing and with the new logo we wanted to celebrate the idea of a window, in perspective. Microsoft and Windows are all about putting technology in people’s hands to empower them to find their own perspectives. And that is what the new logo was meant to be. We did less of a re-design and more to return it to its original meaning and bringing Windows back to its roots – reimagining the Windows logo as just that – a window.